It didn't matter that everyone who studied the case — from a child psychologist to the state-appointed guardian ad litem — testified that staying with his Mama was "in the best interest" of the child.

All Crist's DCF officials cared about was that Vanessa Alenier was gay.

So last week, they stepped up their efforts to block the adoption, appealing the ruling of a judge who said every single piece of evidence presented suggested the adoption should proceed.

The family is obviously distressed.

But for Crist, the political benefits could be plentiful.

Our governor, after all, is in the midst of a brutal primary race, desperate to prove to his base that he's no namby-pamby social moderate. And having his state officials intervene in a case like this could help.

For its part, DCF says politics isn't at play.

"Until there is a unified appellate court decision on this issue," DCF spokesman Joe Follick said in explaining the appeal, "we are bound by Florida statute to defend and adhere to the law."

That law says that it is better for children to remain in the foster system than to be adopted my loving adults — even relatives — who happen to be gay.

It is one of the last of its kind in America.

And the judge who presided over this case in South Florida ruled what many judges and public officials in so many other states have already decided — that it is unconstitutional.

But DCF wants to keep it alive.

The governor's office said Crist wasn't personally involved in the decision to appeal.

But if you think DCF officials even make photocopies related to a high-profile case like this — much less decisions to appeal — without running them by the governor's office, then you've never worked in the office of a political appointee.

Besides, Crist's office confirmed Friday that he supports the ban — even though a growing number of Floridians, including republicans, do not. In fact, polls suggest Floridians are much more accepting of gay adoption than, say, gay marriage.

For some, Crist's anti-rights stance on this issue may be confusing. Crist, after all, used to describe himself as "live and let live" kind of guy when he was running for governor in 2006. It was a stance that earned him respect — and votes — from moderates and some Democrats.

But in reality, Crist has never championed the rights of gay adults to adopt.

Even when it was their own relatives.

Even when the foster system was overwhelmed.

Even when the state could not provide a single, solitary piece of evidence that such an adoption is a bad idea.

And that last part fits this current case out of South Florida to a T.

Because when the 34-year-old Alenier made her case to a judge last month that she was ready to adopt her cousin, she produced many witnesses who backed up her case — friends, neighbors, family members, a social worker, a preschool administrator, a child psychologist and the guardian ad litem.

On the state's witness list: No one.

The judge noted as much in her ruling, citing the abundance of evidence in support of the adoption vs. "the absence of contrary evidence of any kind offered by DCF."

And yet, last week DCF appealed it anyway.

The decision left Alenier as distressed as she was confused "All I want to do," she said, "is be a mother to this baby who is part of my extended family."

The legal fight probably won't be good for the health or psychology of the overlooked child at the heart of the case.